This is one of my favorite photos. I took it during some down time in between training sessions at YPG in March 2012. Cpl. John Peeler and his combat tracker dog Lex were hanging out and relaxing. When he's not working Lex is a lover, and not shy about asking for a head scratch...

Course instructor Sgt. Charlie Hardesty works with MWD Turbo, a Marine dog, in the hot Yuma desert during training at YPG in Arizona in March 2012.

SSGT Nathan Goedert and his dog Jacob consider their next move during a training exercise at Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, AZ. I shot this while spending two weeks with the 17 teams attending the Inter-Service Advanced Skills K-9 (ISAK) course in March 2012.

Just a few galley copies left...

I write about Kitts and his MWD Dyngo and their tour in Afghanistan where they were credited with saving 30k lives. Kitts was awarded the Bronze Star in 2011. #wardogsbookclub #earlyread

I took this pic of MWD Dyngo in May 2012. He's taking a rest next to his handler, Tech Sgt Justin Kitts, after a long run during the inter-K-9 competition hosted by Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX.

I took this photo of Marine Cpl. Joshua Ashley at YPG in March 2012. He and his MWD Sirius were working on an IED detection drill. They deployed to Afghanistan a few months later. In July Ashley was killed while he and Sirius were working a night mission when an IED went off. Sirius wasn't injured in the attack and may soon deploy with his new handler.

MWD Sirius catches some shade in Yuma.

In these two photos we have: Staff Sergeant Major Gabriel Albert Morgan Morgan posed for this official portrait. His four-legged comrade is wearing a forage cap, on July 15, 1915. And the mascots of No. 1 Camp, Tatura Internment Group, Whacko the cockatoo and Cobber the dog. Photos I found in 2011, in a trove of wonderful photos compiled by the Australian War Memorial, of Aussie soldiers with their four-legged companions from WWI through the Vietnam War.

Marine Sgt. Charlie Hardesty reads WAR DOGS to Robbie, the now retired combat tracker dog. The two deployed to Afghanistan together over four years ago--a tour of combat I write about in the book. Robbie now lives with Hardesty and his family..

Ron Aiello was a Marine dog handler during the Vietnam War. On the left he stands with Stormy, his scout dog during the war. On the right he reads WAR DOGS at home.

Dyngo and I hang out one morning in Texas.